British Red Cross partnership with H&M raises more than £1m in two years

03 September 2013
by Jenna Pudelek

The clothing retailer's end-of-season stock has been sold in the charity's shops to support its campaigns, including one on the humanitarian crisis in Syria

A British Red Cross shop

A partnership between the British Red Cross and the clothing retailer H&M to sell end-of-season stock in the charity’s shops has raised more than £1m for the charity over the past two years.

The high-street retailer has donated nearly 330,000 items of clothing and accessories since 2011, which were detagged, unbranded and sold in the charity’s chain of 325 shops.

H&M will continue to donate end-of-season lines that have not been sold in stores and slightly damaged items, which would otherwise have gone to landfill sites, the Red Cross said.

It said the money raised from the donated stock went to support its work at home and overseas, which has recently included the humanitarian crisis in Syria, food shortages in west Africa and supporting vulnerable and elderly people in the UK.

Paul Thompson, head of retail at the British Red Cross, said: "We are really thankful to H&M for helping us to give our customers even greater choice. The donated items we’ve received are bang on trend and this means we can continue to attract younger customers to our stores, offering them fashionable clothes at a great price, which is really important."